Her staff said that Ms. Napolitano sees the move as a way to speed up decision-making and improve efficiency.

That is welcome news to government and nonprofit leaders in South Louisiana who have been trying without much success to resolve lingering disagreements with FEMA on rebuilding projects.

The change also ensures that the agency's Louisiana operation will have a fresh start. Jim Stark, who was removed as head of the state FEMA office after recent allegations of improprieties, had continued as head of the Gulf Coast recovery office. It had been unclear whether he might eventually return to run the Louisiana office, but that question has been settled.

He is now expected to either be reassigned within FEMA or lose his job. Tony Russell, the FEMA veteran who took over the Louisiana operation last month, will remain here.

The allegations of mismanagement of the Louisiana office under Mr. Stark and former chief of staff Doug Whitmer were serious, including sexual harassment, ethics violations, nepotism and cronyism.

Nancy Ward, FEMA's acting administrator, has been investigating the matter and presumably will continue to do so. Meanwhile, the streamlining of the local FEMA operation should be a major improvement.

Sen. David Vitter expressed what other public officials and community leaders feel. His hope, he said, is that removing a layer of bureaucracy will speed up long-awaited FEMA reimbursement for crucial rebuilding projects.

"For too long now, this recovery process has been hampered by a lack of response of FEMA, and this has resulted in the repeated delay of public assistance projects that are vital to Louisiana," he said.

Ms. Napolitano signaled quickly after being named to head Homeland Security that she expects FEMA to operate differently here than it has in the past 3 1/2 years. For one thing, she wants the thousands of work orders that have been in limbo to be settled as soon as reasonably possible.

That is crucial to recovery. There are roughly 4,000 project worksheets that are in dispute. There's a combined $1.6 billion gap between what local officials are seeking and what FEMA is offering. That's tying up a total of $4 billion worth of rebuilding work, which is a huge piece of our recovery.

"I am committed to ensuring that FEMA has the best operational structure, which supports the most effective recovery process for the Gulf Coast," Ms. Napolitano said last week.